Mingchen didn't think much about it, went straight over to study the ink, and helped Nie Xingji to the side of the case. Nie Xingji began to pick up the pen to write, but as soon as he wrote two words, he felt that the pen was not strong enough and the momentum was slightly weak, so he changed the paper and wrote again.

After writing it three times, Nie Xingji was slightly satisfied. But he had only written eight words, and he was already sweating profusely and in bad spirits. He dried and sealed the paper by himself, and then neatly wrote the four big characters "Yunchen personally opened" on the envelope and handed it to Ming Chenyuan: "If you find Yunchen in Chudi, give him this letter." If you can't find it...... Just help me burn it. ”

"Your Highness......" Ming Chenyuan saw what he wrote with his own eyes, and his emotions could no longer be controlled, and he burst into tears: "What are you...... It's ......"

Nie Xingji looked very calm, and said with a smile: "What are you crying about, I'm just a ploy, and retreating is also the way of a soldier." ”

Mingchen didn't know if what he said was true or not, so he could only pretend to cooperate, wipe away his tears, and echo with a smile: "I see!" His Royal Highness is wise, and today Weichen has learned another trick. ”

Ming Chenyuan's deliberate words and deeds made Nie Xingji infinitely sad: "Zhong Ze will have a drink with me tonight, tomorrow you will order 40,000 troops to set off, and by the way, let Nie Xingyi send reinforcements." Remember, don't touch it hard after you go to Chu, first focus on appeasement, and wear down the fierceness of the Chu people. ”

"Okay, Weichen will go find wine." Ming Chenyuan could no longer face Nie Xingji, and he desperately needed to escape from this suffocating tent. In the past, he had led troops countless times and been ordered to go on expeditions countless times, but Nie Xingchen never offered to drink with him, just because they all knew that drinking to see him off was just a formality; They also have the confidence that they will be able to come back alive and see each other.

Can you ...... tonight

Ming Chenyuan couldn't wait to run out, and as soon as he lifted the curtain, tears flowed down his eyes. Nie Xingji, who used to be brave and good at fighting, and Nie Xingji, who had no last resort, now can't even hold the pen firmly when writing a few words to his opponent, and he has to drink goodbye wine with him......

Ming Chenyuan was afraid that he would lose his temper, so he hurriedly covered his mouth and ran away, thinking of the eight words on the letter, he was even more sad and couldn't suppress it. But after thinking about it, Nie Xingji was still waiting for him in the main tent, so he didn't dare to vent for too long, hurriedly packed up his emotions, and first specially asked the military doctor Nie Xingji if he could drink, and then he went to hug a jar of good wine, and the alcohol was not too strong.

Ming Chenyuan returned to the main tent with the wine jar, and as soon as he walked to the door, he saw a soldier coming out of it, and Ming Chenyuan recognized him as the person who was in charge of delivering letters by Nie Xingji's side. Ming Chenyuan hurriedly lifted the curtain and went in, and saw that Nie Xingji was looking down at the letter, his eyebrows frowning.

"Whose letter?" Ming Chenyuan immediately asked.

Nie Xingji raised his eyes: "It's Qi Zhan, he succeeded Yuan Che as the commander of the Ning Army, and he wanted to ask me to talk in private before the war." ”

"Privately?" Ming Chenyuan faintly felt strange: "A grandson of King Ning and a regent of Yan Kingdom are both commanders of the two armies, what does Qi Zhan have to say to you in this situation?" Is it persuasion? ”

Nie Xingji smiled slightly, although the smile was weak, it had a different meaning.

Mingchen was far from understanding the meaning of the smile, and couldn't help but wonder: "Does he want to use psychological warfare?" ”

"No matter what his idea is, it is impossible for me to go to the appointment like this now, if Ning Jun knows, it will be over." Nie Xingji said that he had put the letter on the candle flame and burned it: "Me and him, let's see you on the battlefield." ”

As the tongue of fire rolls up, many emotions burn to ashes with the page, like a person who is on the verge of death with a secret and finally chooses to die silently and quietly.

"Come, let's get drunk tonight."

*****

Six days later, Qi Zhan arrived in Minzhou first, and at the same time received a reply from Nie Xingji, who refused to meet with him for a detailed discussion, but did not give any reason. Qi Zhan felt very strange, and sent spies to the Yan army camp to inquire a few times, and they all said that the regent had been living in seclusion recently, and he hardly showed up in the barracks.

Could it be that Nie Xingji was injured in the battle of Youzhou Mansion, and his injuries were too serious? Or did he do something to cover his face? Or is it a ploy to lure the enemy? Qi Zhan couldn't help but speculate in his heart.

However, since Nie Xingji didn't want to meet with him, he had nothing to do, so he couldn't stop sending troops and not recovering Youzhou. So he quickly entered the role of coach, gnawed on the military book for more than ten days, and prepared to take the initiative to attack with Minzhou as a base.

"How many days will the army be able to reach Minzhou?" Qi Zhan asked the people around him.

"Your Royal Highness, there are 100,000 people who will arrive tomorrow, and another 100,000 need to be transferred, so we have to wait for about ten days."

On the 10th, that is, in late August, all the soldiers and horses were in place. Qi Zhan thought for a moment and ordered: "These days, we must strictly prevent the Yan army from attacking, and tomorrow after 100,000 soldiers and horses are in place, I will personally order the troops." ”

This time, Qi Zhan led his army to Minzhou, and King Ning allocated him 200,000 troops, which was twice as many as Yuan Che's soldiers and horses last time. In fact, this is understandable, one is that his status is higher than Yuan Che, and it is impossible to lead fewer troops than Yuan Che; The second Ning army has already lost Youzhou, and if it wants to recover the lost territory, of course, more troops are needed.

In the afternoon of the next day, the 100,000 troops of the Ning army arrived in Minzhou, and Qi Zhan personally inspected and talked with the soldiers to boost morale. That night, after Qi Zhan drank with them, the soldiers were all tired from the hurry, and they all rested early.

The camp of the Ning army was silent, the people and horses were resting, and the bonfire was shining. Qi Zhan looked out of the tent half drunk and half conscious, letting the cool breeze of the autumn night wake up his slightly drunk mind.

There is not much life in such a quiet barracks, and by next month at the latest, they and Nie Xingji will have countless tough battles to fight. Thinking like this, he remembered everything King Ning had said to him in the secret room, and he couldn't help but feel irritated for a while, undressed and lay down to rest.

Unexpectedly, when everyone was sleeping soundly on the third watch that night, a team of Yan soldiers and horses suddenly attacked. Qi Zhan immediately woke up, got up in his clothes, and ran out of the tent without even wearing his armor. Since arriving in Minzhou, he has been hiding the army's grain and grass extremely secretly, for fear that the Yan army will make up his mind. Knowing that there was an enemy attack at this moment, his first reaction was that Nie Xingji wanted to find the grain and grass at night, so he immediately went to investigate to ensure that the grain and grass were safe and sound.

When he arrived near the storehouse where the grain and grass were stored, he found that there was no sign of a fire, so he felt a little calmer, sent more people to guard it strictly, and rushed to the scene of the incident non-stop to direct the fire extinguishing and resistance.

Before he reached the Yan army's raid point, he saw a steady stream of rockets shooting down from the two watchtowers, like countless meteors streaking through the dark night, lighting up the entire sky.

With years of experience in walking the rivers and lakes, Qi Zhan guessed that the Yan army had captured two watchtowers. But Rao was like this, he still had a hint of luck, and hurriedly grabbed a lieutenant general, and asked knowingly: "How is the situation?" ”

"Your Highness, the other side has about two or three thousand people, and they have already attacked the watchtower." The lieutenant replied quickly, quite calmly.

"Are they two thousand or three thousand?" Qi Zhan asked dissatisfied.

"Your Highness's forgiveness, it's really too dark, and most of the Yan army has already entered the tower, and the number of people is impossible to estimate for the time being."

Qi Zhan was furious when he heard this: "How did thousands of people attack the watchtower?" ”

"Yes...... It's ......" The adjutant hesitated for a moment.

"Say!"

"Yes...... It was Yan Jun who copied our clothes, pretended to be the guards who took over, and ran directly to the watchtower. The lieutenant lowered his head, as if he couldn't speak, "Everyone thought it was the brother who took over, and the time was too early...... didn't watch out, only to be taken advantage of by Yan Jun. ”

"Huh!" Qi Zhan laughed angrily after hearing this, and actually stopped talking.

While the two were talking, the Yan army had completely occupied the two watchtowers, and kept shooting rockets down. The Ning army was on the ground, and it was too laborious to shoot arrows from the bottom up, and the sky was dark, so it was impossible to shoot the Yan army on the tower at all. Many people want to climb the tower quietly, but the building adopts a swing staircase, and each floor is firmly guarded by the Yan army.

Such a fierce battle lasted for more than half an hour, and there were many dead and wounded under the watchtower, and there were still a few who were shot dead by the Yan army, and most of them fell from the tower. The more Qi Zhan looked, the more angry he became, and he couldn't help but skim a few bows and arrows, jumped to the top of the tent closest to the tower, and personally opened his bow against the Yan army.

After all, Qi Zhan was a well-known killer in Kyushu, almost every hundred shots, and he shot hundreds of Yan troops in a short time. But before these Yan troops set off, they all had to be explained by Nie Xingji - once a marksman was dispatched in the Ning army, they would immediately hide in the watchtower and not expose their position.

Therefore, when the Yan army saw that there was a marksman to release arrows, although they didn't know that it was the grandson of King Ning who went out in person, they also squatted down one after another to give up archery and returned to the tower to guard the stairs. Qi Zhan shot for a long time, and when he saw that there was no one on the outer edge of the tower, he hated it even more, and shouted: "Take a ladder, climb up from the outer wall of the tower, and be sure to take down these swallow thieves!" ”

Before he gave this order, an adjutant general happened to go with him, and had already sent people to move the ladder to attack the tower, and the soldiers climbed the ladder in the same way as the siege tower, and climbed in from outside the tower to counterattack the Yan army. A steady stream of Ning Jun climbed the ladder, and a steady stream of killing sounds came from the tower, Qi Zhan wanted to go in to see the situation in person, but was stopped by the people around him.

Outside the tower, everyone didn't know what was going on inside, and they didn't dare to rush in again, so they could only wait.

It wasn't until the sky turned white that the tower became quiet. A soldier stumbled out of the entrance, his face already purple and blue, and he had just taken a few steps before he was foaming at the mouth and convulsing all over.

Seeing this, Qi Zhan couldn't hold back any longer, and hurriedly rushed forward to investigate, and found that the soldier had been poisoned. Qi Zhan's face changed greatly, and he hurriedly asked, "What about the others?" ”

"Poisoning...... All...... It's ...... dead," the soldier said this sentence intermittently, and then rolled his eyes and lost his breath.